The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-12-21
Beb's Startling Collection Of Uup'digrssd
Dogs that Fought Everything in Sight
An Imported Dutch DOg-His L1ng-Livsd
CsTssr and Death.
A Wonderful Canine-A Red handed An
archist DOg-His EccentIicities and
Hatred of Law-EulUgy.
written for the Sentinel. }
(Copyright.)

truth. And the truth-some of it-must
not be suppressed. When / can tell the
truth without committing myself or GRIM
mating any OF my neighbors, L am going
70 tell it, even if there is 10 one arouud 10
hear it.. Sometimes ii is the wisest aud
safest course to seletc just that sort OF an
audience before unburdenipg ones self of
a hold-full of Truth and a deck.lOad of
migtigating circumstances. Bat in this
case, as no one has complained OF having
lost any sweet gazslles, either by STAN ped
ing or by the change of brand, [ deem il
my duty to assert once more that / never
had a sweet gazelle to glad me with its sotl
black eve.
did own, during the years of my boy
hood. at various times, a startling collec-
ton Of unpedigreed dogs, that would glad
~ have given black eye TO any sweet
gszelle that might have wandered into our
section of the wilderness, but dogs don't
count in the sum of human wealth, save
among boys. And yet believe that my
dogs were NV only successful ventures.
They never cost me anything beyond the
natural impulses of warm, loving heart,
that went out to every homeless or unlov-
ed dog that somebody wanted to get rid OF
and nobody else would have. / have no
doubt that IL ever had had a sweet gazelle,
il would have got up and died in the fourth
line OF the first stan "a in the most approx.
ed and gazelle-liEe fashion. Ny sister
Mary had little lamb once, and it died,
with some professional assistance from tn e
emeritus professor of ethical 5utchery al
psy chicsl sausage handling In our to Sn,
and mighty good chops we got ont of it.
too. You never half appreciate lamb un-
til it is dead. But / wander.
say never lost anything on my dogs.
They were not sweet like a gazelle. Au
contraire, they were quite altogether
pOiher, especially on rainy days. Bas they
were brave, and fought everything ia
Peoria County that wore hair and had "a
ear long enough 10 catch on to. They we're
vigilant, and lot only so, but they kept
every body else in the nsighb0rhoOd Vigt.
lsut. l had one long Eecke3. i'm ported
Dutch dog, didn't import bin myself;
only coaxed him away ir0 tie wagon of
the man who did. BE was one OF those
long, low, raksh dogs drawing about four
teen inches forward and eight and a half
aft, so that be slways steered uneasily. he
was about four feet long, I should Judge,
and when he was standing still be looked
like q stick of cOrdTood on stove legs.
When he stood up Oh his bind legs e could
easily look in at q second story window.
When be got down on all fours. he could
just as easily walk under a board sidewalk.
He used 10 stick his head around the coruer
of the street, and growl, and make
faces, and provoke some strange dog from
Radnor or Kickapoo TO anger. Then he
would run himself out on the Y. back
down on the siding, and switch himself
on the msin line already for a collision,
but by that time, unless the strange dog
became utterly paIalyzed with fright and
amtZement. he either got his orders by
signal and run wild till he dropped dead,
or else lay down in the dust, confessed
everything, and threw himself on the
mercy of the court. He dug a hole under
the fence, so that he could lie quietly and
peacefully In our yard, and bark under our
neighbours windows This led to many
misunderstanding. He was 80 long that
when you spoke kindly to
him, his broad, honest face would
light up with a graceful Joy nearly
two minutes before the emotion got far
enough aft to wag his tail. don't think
the other members of my fathers family
appreciated the Dutch dogs many per
sonal traits as j did. He took up so much
OF their time. You see il you glanced up
| Just as he was passing a window, and only
MS body was in your line of sight, you hal
| to wait until one end or the other came In
/ view before you knew whether the dog
was standing cut to sea, or backing in to
the dock. A traveller, who once came to
| Peoria from far-aNay Boston, said he was
dock suned. So We called him "Doc;"
1 q
was fond of giving rs bark and whine, and
always carried great deal of canine ABOUT
| with him. This is not very impsruvian
reading, but it is a great deal better than
some very much worse things have writ
| ten.
He was a long-lived dog. Death came
very near to him several times, bat didn't
know at which end to begin. But at last
/ the poor dog died one morning like a
4 Qlr 10 taraf tail -
wsg when the sun went down. We snaked
him out to a cornfeld and buried him
lengthwise in a land-furrow. He was a
/ apge-tempered dog, that seemed always
to take morbid but solemn pleasure ia
| his own elongation, and ne impressed you
| with TIE conviction that in former sphere
| OF existence, he had been an eminently re-
spectacle footman in a wealthy family
4 One dog. with whom / was in business for
| nearly two years was a red-handed An.
archist. He had a short, naughty upper
| lip, and a whitening expression. He used
/ to 60 out on the sidewalk, when
the skies were faint in the West
with opaline tints, and the soft
gray shadows of the cleaning announced
the vesper hour and there he would stand,
wrapped in thought, and smile TO see the
/ villagers wade across the broad and dusty
street to the farther shore, when they
made him out AS long as he aud were
| partners, | never knew him to bite a
human being, except myself, but he al
ways looked as though he was thinking
about ii, and had iust made up his mind
| to tear the vital organism out of the next
| living creature that came along and this
keptou pleasant little community on a
tension Of anxiety and vague, uncertain
fear that YVES terrible. His colors were
n Ized goods of black and brown, arranged
IN irregular tigerish stripes, and ne had a
good place for tail. but that was all,
! think he travelled largely on his shape. He
came to me-the gift of a colored man, a
deck hand on the Sam. Crafty, who brought
him from st. Louis-shortly before the
long, narrow-gauge Dutch dog died. In
fact, one of the last acts of the Dutch dog
was. to teach the Anarchist some sense.
The Anarchist came suddenly upon the
rear guard of Dutch dog one day, and, re.
laxing his hautY demeanor for the nonce,
fell upon il, and began to destroy It, when
the long dog, becoming aware of disturb
ance somewhere down the lane, counter
marched, and coming, rapidly down his
own flank, fell upon tina Anarchist with
furious energy and smote him hip and
thigh. IL is bat justice to the Anarch.
list to say ttat he was sadly ham,
pered from the outset, thinking
that he was fighting two dogs,
and was thus unable to concentrate his